Developer Puts Off Answers On Riviera Florida Golf Course's Future
A developer's plans to plant affordable housing on a public Florida golf course in East Naples had unleashed an uproar from residents, and now there are questions about the project's future.
But the developers and the current property owners aren't answering questions.
MDG Capital executives have said they hoped to construct more than 1,000 condominiums on the Florida golf course in the 55-and-older Riviera Golf Estates community.
Late Thursday, MDG released a statement that is making residents and county officials wonder: Now what?
"We have notified the owners of Riviera Golf Course that we cannot proceed on the purchase and redevelopment of the golf course for Affordable Work Force Housing without resolution of the conflicting title opinions relating to the deed restrictions," it reads.
Does that mean the Florida golf course project is off?
Patrick McCuan, the MDG Capital CEO, wouldn't say when contacted Friday.
He wouldn't say if that means the project is just delayed. He politely declined to comment on any questions springing from the statement.
"We don't mean to be difficult," he said.
Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala, who represents East Naples, has been fighting to stop plans from going forward. She is relieved, for residents, that the proposal at least has been slowed.
"That's it, huh?" Fiala said. "I think MDG is purposely keeping people in the dark. I don't know what their motives are for not just being up-front about what's really going on here."
The Riviera Golf Club , an 18-hole Florida golf course, sits among 692 manufactured and single-family homes in Riviera Golf Estates.
Residents there weren't elated but not dismayed.
"First of all, it's not bad news," said David Gelsomini, vice president of the homeowners association board and a resident since 1991.
Gelsomini, who cherishes his course view, said homeowners' deeds dating back to the 1970s said the course must remain in use as a golf course or for related activities.
"They could take us to court to challenge the deed," he said. "If we go to court, that's going to put us right back in the soup but we'll do whatever it takes. We will win."
The association board hired attorney Patrick White, who said Friday that MDG hadn't contacted him to discuss any issues.
"I'll have to investigate that more fully," he said after he read the statement.
Joe Schmitt, head of Collier County's community development and environmental services division, said the MDG Capital president left him a message about the release but he didn't know anything more.
The company with a Maryland headquarters and a Naples office postponed its February pre-application meeting with Collier County officials, he said.
"It appears right now, at least, any plans of this Florida golf course in the immediate future have been tabled," he said. "I just don't think they were even prepared."
Schmitt said there is a restriction on properties adjacent to Florida golf courses but it's not the county's responsibility to sort out those issues. Residents in Florida golf course communities shouldn't fear the redevelopment of courses in the community, he said, because Riviera's neighborhood zoning is unique.
Similar communities are master planned as a development, Schmitt said, but Riviera Golf Estates has piecemeal zoning, which allows a developer to pursue a switch without an expensive, time-intensive change of the master plan that most developers would loathe to do.
But the developers and the current property owners aren't answering questions.
MDG Capital executives have said they hoped to construct more than 1,000 condominiums on the Florida golf course in the 55-and-older Riviera Golf Estates community.
Late Thursday, MDG released a statement that is making residents and county officials wonder: Now what?
"We have notified the owners of Riviera Golf Course that we cannot proceed on the purchase and redevelopment of the golf course for Affordable Work Force Housing without resolution of the conflicting title opinions relating to the deed restrictions," it reads.
Does that mean the Florida golf course project is off?
Patrick McCuan, the MDG Capital CEO, wouldn't say when contacted Friday.
He wouldn't say if that means the project is just delayed. He politely declined to comment on any questions springing from the statement.
"We don't mean to be difficult," he said.
Collier County Commissioner Donna Fiala, who represents East Naples, has been fighting to stop plans from going forward. She is relieved, for residents, that the proposal at least has been slowed.
"That's it, huh?" Fiala said. "I think MDG is purposely keeping people in the dark. I don't know what their motives are for not just being up-front about what's really going on here."
The Riviera Golf Club , an 18-hole Florida golf course, sits among 692 manufactured and single-family homes in Riviera Golf Estates.
Residents there weren't elated but not dismayed.
"First of all, it's not bad news," said David Gelsomini, vice president of the homeowners association board and a resident since 1991.
Gelsomini, who cherishes his course view, said homeowners' deeds dating back to the 1970s said the course must remain in use as a golf course or for related activities.
"They could take us to court to challenge the deed," he said. "If we go to court, that's going to put us right back in the soup but we'll do whatever it takes. We will win."
The association board hired attorney Patrick White, who said Friday that MDG hadn't contacted him to discuss any issues.
"I'll have to investigate that more fully," he said after he read the statement.
Joe Schmitt, head of Collier County's community development and environmental services division, said the MDG Capital president left him a message about the release but he didn't know anything more.
The company with a Maryland headquarters and a Naples office postponed its February pre-application meeting with Collier County officials, he said.
"It appears right now, at least, any plans of this Florida golf course in the immediate future have been tabled," he said. "I just don't think they were even prepared."
Schmitt said there is a restriction on properties adjacent to Florida golf courses but it's not the county's responsibility to sort out those issues. Residents in Florida golf course communities shouldn't fear the redevelopment of courses in the community, he said, because Riviera's neighborhood zoning is unique.
Similar communities are master planned as a development, Schmitt said, but Riviera Golf Estates has piecemeal zoning, which allows a developer to pursue a switch without an expensive, time-intensive change of the master plan that most developers would loathe to do.
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